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MSN Broadband

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Joseph of Kaysville UT writes (12/28/01):
MSN Broadband has been a nightmare! I signed up for 640 KBPS DSL broadband, and I must give them credit for speedy connections. It was easy to install, and everything was really nice for two weeks.

Then the problems began. My DSL link went away. I wasn't concerned at first, because that had been happening briefly from time to time. After a day and a half I called customer support. They opened a ticket (which seems to be the only thing they do well), examined my connection, and said that I had a stuck LIM port (or is it spelled "limb"?). They said the problem was with them, and after 3 to 5 business days, if the problem isn't fixed, to contact them again.

While they were looking at my account, they noticed that I had three billable accounts with MSN. I asked them to cancel two of them. Needless to say, after 5 business days I called them, and they escalated the problem to top priority. I was contacted by someone from MSN, this time with a three-digit IQ, and he determined the problem was with Qwest, my local phone company. It would have been nice to get this determination a week earlier!

Qwest got right on the problem, and within a day my service was restored. They even came to my house to be sure everything was working right. The very next day the DSL link went away again. I got a call from the intelligent MSN guy who said that Qwest had been told by MSN that I wanted my service disconnected. It turns out that my prior cancelations of my two other accounts had resulted in them telling Qwest to stop my DSL link.

I called Qwest, and they told me that it would take three weeks to get the service started again. Meantime, I checked with MSN to see the status of my account(s), and found out that all three accounts were still active. After an hour on the phone with the guy, I was assured that he had just canceled two of them. Two days later I checked back, to discover that I still had three accounts active.

That was the last straw. All I needed was to get DSL service restored, only to have it stopped again later by MSN attempting to cancel two of my three accounts. I insisted right then that ALL my MSN accounts be canceled, effectively immediately. That seems to have worked. I'll never use MSN ISP service again. Good riddance!

I had been intending on telecommuting via broadband. Those plans have had to go on hold.

Jerry of Denver writes (11/15/01):
Thinking of switching to MSN Broadband powered by Qwest? Think hard and twice before you do. It's migration into HELL!

• 07/19/01 Got my Qwest DSL and Qwest.net service. Got email from Qwest that residential customers now would have to migrate over to MSN Broadband by November 1, 2001, or would be migrated over automatically.
• 10/19/01 Migrated over to MSN Broadband.
• 10/25/01 Had no DSL connection, called MSN, run multiple tests, no resolution and not sure why; MSN opens escalation ticket, should be resolved 24-72 hours.
• 10/25/01 Called Qwest to see if they can help, run multiple tests, no resolution, they too open an escalation ticket and told to call MSN back.
• 10/26/01 Called MSN, now told to wait 72 business hours.
• 10/27/01 Called MSN and was told there was no update or resolution or change in status.
• 10/28/01 Called MSN and now told the servers in Denver are down, and that was the problem. Spoke to supervisor to complain and had this again escalated.
• 10/29/01 Went back to AOL dial up account.
• 10/29/01 Called MSN and canceled my account, and got a cancellation confirmation number. Was told it would be canceled in 3-5 days.
• 11/02/01 Called Qwest to see if they had the cancellation order from MSN. They did not and told to call MSN.
• 11/02/01 Called MSN, they opened an escalation ticket.
• 11/05/01 Called Qwest to see if they had the cancellation order from MSN. They did not and told to call MSN.
• 11/05/01 Called MSN and told that my order was “pending cancel” and they only work them once a month on my anniversary date which would be
• 11/12/01. I told them this was not acceptable and had another supervisor again escalate this.
• 11/06/01 Called Qwest to see if they had the cancellation order from MSN. They did not and told to call MSN.
• 11/06/01 Called MSN and spoke with another supervisor who again said that he would escalate this.
• 11/07/01 Called Qwest to see if they had the cancellation order from MSN. They did not and told to call MSN.
• 11/08/01 Called Qwest to see if they had the cancellation order from MSN. They did not and told to call MSN.
• 11/09/01 Called Qwest to see if they had the cancellation order from MSN. They did not and told to call MSN.
• 11/09/01 Did a 3 way conference call with my new ISP and Qwest to see if we could resolve this. And told they need to wait to get the cancellation from MSN.
• 11/12/01 Called Qwest to see if they had the cancellation order from MSN. They did not and told to call MSN.
• 11/12/01 Called MSN and asked again for supervisor or manager. Was told they would escalate this again.
• 11/13/01 Called Qwest to file complaint over this whole mess, and seek help. Got transferred several times and reached a representative at Denver business office. He asked which ISP I wanted to change to, and said he would start the order and it would take 5 business days.
• 11/15/01 Called Qwest, they have no order pending on my account. Told to call MSN, as they cannot do anything until they have the cancellation from MSN.
• 11/15/01 Called MSN and demanded to speak with a supervisor or manager. And now told that it can take 10 days from my pending cancellation date for them to send the cancel order to Qwest.
• 11/15/01 Called the Colorado PUC to request help and assistance. And was given numbers to both Qwest executive office for consumer complaints and for the Colorado consumer line of the Attorney General and Better Business Bureau.
• 11/15/01 Called the Qwest executive office, and explained this entire mess to the representative. He indicated that they have had numerous complaints like this and that he had a stack of orders with the same problem. And that he had a contact at MSN, and that he would forward my account on to MSN and call me back either today or tomorrow.
• 11/15/01 Called the Colorado consumer line and explained my problem and got the website address to file this complaint.
• 11/15/01 It has now been 22 days and I have no DSL service nor have I been able to order or change my DSL service over to my new ISP. This is completely unacceptable. I used to work for a now defunct DSL.com business and used to order and provision lines and cancel lines with U.S. West/Qwest and fully know the steps and the process required to complete them. At the very least you input the cancel order into the Qwest software and Qwest has 3 days to then complete the order. As of today MSN has yet to send that cancellation order to Qwest. MSN should not be allowed to hold the consumers of Colorado hostage in this kind of HELL!
• 11/15/01 Filed online complaint with the Colorado Attorney General & BBB.
• 11/15/01 Emailed copies of this complaint to Local NBC, ABC and Fox television stations for their consumer compliant/trouble shooting departments.

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